Lucky Star
by RogueJacksonators
Summary: Teen singer actress Piper McLean competes on reality ballroom dancing competition Dancing with the Stars with three-time champion Jason Grace. Currently rated K but might be changed to T in future depending on my mood.
1. Prologue

GUYS what's up? I haven't written in ages, plus I changed my name. Yeah i love dwts

* * *

_Still got the same smile that sets me off  
'Cuz there's just something about you  
I got these feelings —_

Piper slid her phone open. "Hello?"

"Hey Piper!" It was Lacy, her agent-cum-publicist. "Did you get Mitchell's message?" Mitchell was Lacy's assistant.

"Hi Lacy," Piper replied. "No, I haven't. Didn't check my phone. Sorry."

She pictured Lacy shaking her head on the other side of the phone. As one of the leads of the latest hit movie (the first installation of a series as well), plus newly discovered singer, Piper got quite a number of calls (via Lacy or Mitchell, obviously) about tons of stuff. Usually she declined all the offers unless she was personally interested (like that guest role where all she did was eat ice cream) and never really cared too much in the first place. Lacy, on the other hand, liked to keep up to date.

"It's fine, Piper," Lacy said, although both girls knew she meant _next time we meet, you're going to have a long lecture._ "Anyway, you've been invited to compete on Dancing with the Stars! The schedule is kinda crazy, more packed than you're filming plus training for Evo, but it seems like fun. And you get to meet hot dancer guys."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Lacy, you know I'm not interested in guys." But she was interested, no less. She learnt ballet and street jazz when she was younger but stopped two years ago when she moved to do acting. DWTS was one of her favourite reality shows because it reminded her of her old classes.

"Whatever you say, Piper," Lacy chatted away. "If you can get back soon enough, you can be on the next season, 21." Some clicking could be heard on the other end of the line. Piper guessed that Lacy was checking her emails for details. "They're offering at least $25,000. The longer you stay, the more you earn. Plus the mirrorball trophy. So, what do you say, Piper? You think it's worth it?"

Piper grinned. "Forget the money, I'd do it for free."

* * *

P.S. I still sign of as hbMx

happy ff-ing (?!)

-hbMx


	2. Pre-show and week 1 rehearsals

_Teen singer actress Piper McLean competes on reality ballroom dancing competition Dancing with the Stars with three-time champion Jason Grace._

_The competition kicks off._

**A/N: brace yourselves because this is gonna be a long one!**

* * *

"I think she's done now, she'll be around here."

"Pipeeer!"

Piper turned towards the sound of her name. Her co-star, Ryan, was weaving through the crowded room, followed by a blond haired guy who looked slightly older than her and two camera men wearing a black polo that stated DWTS CAM. _They're here! _she thought.

She looked back at the blond guy. Tall, cropped golden hair and blue eyes. Piper recognised him immediately. Jason Grace. Three-time champion. Won with Nicki Lee Garcia, Sheila Johansen and Stacy Miller in seasons 12, 15 and 19 respectively.

SHe smiled and made her way over. Ryan stepped aside with a sweeping motion of his arm. She laughed at his antics and turned back to the pro. "Hi."

"Hey," Jason greeted her. They shook hands.

"Am I interrupting anything?" Jason asked, pushing some if his hair back.

Piper shook her head. "No we were just gathering today to see the first draft of the script for the next movie. I'm almost done now, I'm just waiting for them to print the production schedules."

"Oh yeah, the Evolution series. I liked those books," Jason commented earnestly. "I'm waiting for the fourth one to come out. Do you have any sneak peeks? Anyone dies? Lives?"

Piper laughed. "I don't know. Rick's not here today. I can pass all enquiries on if you want, though. So, any more questions?"

"Yeah," Jason replied, chuckling slightly. "Do I call you Katherine or Piper?"

_This is going well, _Piper thought.

_Sunday. 9.12 am_

"Okay, so whatever we get here kind of determines what you dance next week as well, since they want you to dance 2 different styles within the first 2 weeks - usually ballroom and latin," Jason explained. He held out the shiny grey envelope. "Go ahead. Open your card."

After about 2 weeks of learning the basics, Piper was going to start on her first dance of the season. Jason had actually picked the card a long time ago but they both decided to keep it a secret until now.

Cha-cha, foxtrot or contemporary. She would have preferred foxtrot, but she knew Jason would rather her start with contemporary because it was something closer to what she had learnt before.

Piper pulled the card out an inch. There was a printed C. She pulled it out all the way.

"Cha-cha," she announced, holding the card up.

Jason sighed and smiled. "Okay, just let me have jazz next week because i _hate _the quickstep." He took out the CD included in the envelope. "Let's hear the song."

It was a slightly remixed version of Kiss by Prince. Both of them were satisfied with the song and the tempo and by noon, Jason had already choreographed the first verse.

"...don't _and_ have to be _and _cool _da bum _to rule my _uh _world," he called out, clapping to the beat as Piper ran through the steps.

"...particular sign... Hips!" he yelled. "Move your hips!"

Piper groaned. She was hating this latin stuff, with the hip action and butt shaking stuff. Latin sounded fun, but she wasn't sure about the whole 'sexy' thing.

Jason laughed at her frustration and walked over, placing his hands on her hips. "It doesn't have to bee too much if you don't want," he told her, pushing her hips out towards the right. "It just needs to be more obvious. If you want to make it look relative you can twist your upper body a bit and get away for the first few weeks."

Piper leaned her torso to the left. Her posture looked weird in the mirror. "I don't like the idea of after the first few weeks."

"Oh, that's when the real fun begins," Jason assured her. He smirked. "Also, I'm letting you off for now, but eventually you might need to wear heels."

_Monday, 7.49 am_

Music. Screaming. Cheering.

As Piper waited backstage on the set of Good Morning America, she listened for the troupe to finish their dance. Crew members scuttled around with mics and clipboards rounding people together. She recognised a few faces - Khione, the Olympic ice dancer, Percy Jackson, champion swimmer, Silena Beauregard, popular model etc.

The loud applause meant that the troupe performance had ended and the DWTS hosts - Dakota and Gwen had gone onstage.

There was talking, bantering, joking, before Dakota finally announced the first competitor. Then more laughing and talking, more announcing.

"One-nine, stand by please." Someone patted Piper on the shoulder and lined her up in the wings. Then Gwen called the guy standing in front of her. Frank Zhang. Former hockey league player.

Someone was announced, then she heard Dakota say, "Also known as Katherine Hachting from the new movie adaptation Evolution, our youngest competitor at the age of 17, bring it on for...Piper McLean!"

Someone whispered "do something dance-y" to her as she stepped forward. Her jazz instincts took over and she slid out onto the thrust to the audience's cheering. The smile naturally came on as she did a turn and walked towards her seat, waving.

Three more people were announced, then Gwen and Dakota walked around asking questions. She shook hands with Frank on her right, and said hi to Reyna Avila something-something, the gymnast on her left.

Gwen came over. "Alright, Piper, you're the youngest competitor this season, how does it feel, intimidating?" she asked. Piper leaned forward to the mike. "Well, you know, maybe I'll get my growth spurt during the competition, since I'm a late bloomer, then I won't look so young anymore and I can blend in." The crowd laughed and some people even started whooping. "But, I'm not scared or anything." Gwen faced the audience. "And also, the youngest winner ever was also just 17 when she won her mirrorball, so you've got some history on your side" she said, smiling broadly, before turning to Reyna, the next youngest at 21.

Gwen and Dakota then went on the announce the pros. Piper recognised all of them from watching the previous seasons, and was genuinely happy for those that had been promoted from the troupe. Then Dakota read,

"Alright, now for our star from Evolution, Piper, you get the pro who has _evolved _quite a bit since he first danced on this show." The audience laughed at the reference. Dakota stopped to let them have their bit, then continued, "Returning for his eleventh season on the show, triple treat Jason Grace!"

Jason came out of the left wings, strolling casually down the thrust. Piper got up to meet him and instead of hugging they performed a special handshake - as practiced. "Wow, looks like someone's already busting the moves," Gwen commented.

_Wednesday, 3.44pm_

"Turn," Jason instructed, "and right, and left - hip! And cha-cha-cha."

Piper half-turned and swung her right leg round to the back while Jason mirrored her. When it touched the floor she quickly transferred her weight and, sitting on the right, let her left leg slide out, turning her body to face the front mirror. She felt Jason's arm hold her waist to stabalise her as she sat down on his leg (he, on his part, had to do a turn into a kneel). Their outer arms were held at a high angle so that they formed an asymmetrical V.

They held the final position for about three seconds until Jason spoke up, "great! That was good." Piper stood up and adjusted her costume - a typical sparkly red latin dress with a ruffled skirt that looked like it was made of flames when she did her spins. She also had matching sandals with special flexible soles ("cheat" latin shoes), and the hair department said she would have some hair accessories as well. Jason got a simple black t-shirt with a matching red vest and black pants.

"The dress all good?" Jason asked her. She nodded. "It's okay. It doesn't get in the way of anything and these shoes are comfy." She bounced up and down a few times on the balls of her feet to prove her point. Jason smiled. "Yeah, I'm not sure how long it'll take the judges to call them out though. Lupa can be really strict." Piper wrinkled her nose at the though of wearing heels.

One of the crew members who had been directing the filming for their rehearsal package approached Jason and the two men conversed briefly. Jason turned back to her and said, "we're due for our photoshoot in 15 minutes. Why don't you go get changed first? I'll settle somethings then catch up with you later."

"Sure."

Piper's attire for the photoshoot was a similar dress, but purple, and without the ruffles (and actual latin shoes). Jason had on orange button-down, and they joked about swapping costumes because they were wearing each other's favourite colour. She let her hair down as instructed the day before and made her way to the photo studio.

A woman pulled her aside as soon as she stepped in. "Hi, I'm Silena, head of wardrobe," she introduced. Piper studied her. Silena did look like the perfect head of wardrobe. Her hair was done up into a fashionable bun, her make-up was subtle but brought out all the details, and her clothes were trendy. Piper shook her hand and noticed that Silena's nails had shiny nail polish (but not overbearing).

Silena called one of her assistants over. "This is Maria - she's in charge of all your make-up and hairdo needs." Maria smiled warmly at Piper and Piper reciprocated. Siena studied Piper for a while, then she turned to Maria. "Give her a dutch into a side braid, but make it casual. Let the hair in the front mess up a bit. Put some feathers in too." She ran off to check on another competitor, or dancer.

Jason was already there when Maria had finished Piper's braid. She found him chatting with one of the other pros, Annabeth Chase (season 14 and 18 winner). Jason saw her introduced her. Annabeth smiled. "Nice hair." Piper had to agree. The braid came down her left and the eagle feather Maria had weaved in matched her browns perfectly.

They were interrupted by Silena's shouting. "Alright - 21-8!" Her eyes scanned the room and landed on the trio of them. "Annabeth! Where's Jackson?"

Annabeth groaned and turned around. "I have no idea," she yelled back, sounding exasperated. "He's the most unresponsive person to his texts!" Silena mumbled something to the person next to her. She looked Piper in the eye. "Okay then, 21-9, Jason, Piper McLean, get ready." Jason took her hand and led her to the green screen.

_Friday, 9.02am_

**_DWTS Season 21 official cast photos released!_**

Piper followed the link on the abc website and scrolled through down until she found her picture. Out of about twenty different poses, the producers had picked the one where both she and Jason had their inner legs bent and their back leg pointing straight out. Jason was supporting Piper's waist and Piper had her right arm straight up. They were both smiling at her against the satin silver background that had been photoshopped over the green screen. They also had individual shots of all the pros and contestants, and Piper had a mid shot of her turning towards the camera, smiling while Jason got a full-body photo of him doing a dance move. She saved all the pictures as her new wallpaper and posted them on whosay (essentially twitter, instagram, and her official facebook page. She had no idea how it worked but that was what Lacy said so).

She texted Jason. _Like our official photos?_

She didn't expect him to respond anytime soon because she knew he had pro troupe rehearsals, so she was surprised when he responded almost immediately. _They look great. You got your new headshot for auditions I suppose? And the finally got rid of that stupid glittery background, thank the gods._

Piper chuckled at the thought of Jason and glitter, thinking about the cast photos from previous seasons. When she looked down she realised she had another text.

_Don't forget your steps! We have camera blocking and dress rehearsal tomorrow! Happy day off for you_

Piper smiled and typed her reply. This was going to be a great experience.

* * *

**A/N: I made most people uncanonically older than Piper so that the story and the pros' backgrounds work. Also for the people who are repping the judges/hosts, they will be more OOC to fit the typical personalities of Tom and Brooke/Erin. **


	3. Opening Night! and BTS

whoops. I actually wrote this long ago and put it up on tumblr but forgot to upload it here

* * *

_**Live from Hollywood, this is Dancing with the Stars!**_

"Alright, we're now through with half of our couples," Dakota announced.

That was the cue. "After the break," Dakota began - Jason leaned in to "kiss" her - "we see how our youngest contestant trained for her cha-cha-cha" - and Piper shoved him away playfully, as the producers suggested - "with her partner."

"...and cut! good job guys. Take a break. Six minutes."

Piper made her way down from the skybox via the backstage exit (yes, there was a secret stairs from the skybox so they didn't have to cross the dance floor, who knew?), Jason right behind her. Someone passed her a bottle of mineral water as soon as she entered make-up area and she took a swig.

"Nervous?" Jason asked her as he sat down. Piper hopped onto a dressing table. "Not really. I'm kind of excited. Like, is this really happening?"

Jason chuckled in response. "Four and a half minutes," someone called out.

Silena hurried pat them clutching her stylist's purse - a large, transparent bag full of basic make-up, hair products, applicators and removal tissues. She fished out a purple tube and stuffed it into Piper's hands. "Fix your fringe, it's falling out," she said briskly before hurrying off.

Piper made a face. "Oh hell no, I have enough hairgel already," she muttered once Silena was out of earshot. "My head's as sticky as it is."

"Don't complain," Jason said. "My hair's all crusted to stand up. It's performance make up. You always apply more."

Piper reached forward to fell his hair. He was right - it was hard and stiff, like someone molded it into shape with cement. "What's the point? I don't mind if my hair falls in front of my face. It usually does. And I rather have my eyes look small than try to apply eyeliner thousands of times," she whined.

"Because you keep crying," Jason told her. "It's just your allergies. They'll find something for you."

Piper sighed and pushed the few loose strands behind her ear. "Maybe they won't find anything, then I'll be exempted from wearing make-up."

"I doubt so, the make-up department can be quite stubborn."

"Two minutes!" someone announced. "Bumper 2, item 7, standby!"

Piper hopped off the dressing table and Jason stood up. He smiled down at her. "You ready?"

She shook her limbs to loosen up. She had never been one to get stage fright. _Have fun_, she told herself. She returned the smile. "Yeah, let's do this."_  
_

Piper had forgotten about the screening of the rehearsal package before each dance, so now she had to stand around on stage watching herself on the large screen. Piper winced as she slipped during one of the rehearsals, nearly pulling Jason with her. _They make me look naïve and immature, _she thought. Then Jason called her a fast learner and she felt proud of herself.

Jason shook her gently. "Get ready," he said, "the tape's ending soon."

He was right. Piper had barely hit her mark when the tape ended.

"Dancing the cha-cha-cha, Piper McLean, and her partner, Jason Grace."

She took a deep breath, and the music started.

Jason tended to be a tough coach, but Piper was glad he made her do so many run-throughs. The movements flowed through her naturally, as if she were programmed to do that routine. She hardly thought about what she had to do next, so she just listened to the music and tried to drown out the distracting, random cheering from the audience.

They were finished all of a sudden. It was so quick, like a blink. Their first dance was done! Grinning, Piper slowly stood up and made her way over to Dakota. Jason joined them shortly. The host was making some comments but Piper barely heard him as Jason ducked his head and whispered "Good job" in her ear.

The cheering died down and Dakota called up the first judge, Lupa, a middle-aged woman whose hair was always tied in a strict bun. Piper noticed from watching the show that Lupa tended to be the strictest judge. Her large eyes watched contestants like a hungry wolf. She was seated in the middle of the table.

Lupa praised her musicality, which Piper took as a good sign. "But at times I felt that you got lost in the dance and you didn't really think about execution so some of the steps looks a bit weak. Work on that," Lupa finished.

To Lupa's left was Dionysus, who made exaggerated gestures when he gave feedback. "That was fast and lively!" he yelled. "A bit stiff in the hip movement but the ENERGY!" Typical.

The last judge, who sat on the far right, was the calm and bearded Chiron, who reiterated the previous critique, then spoke to Jason. "I think you let her off the hook," he said. He pointed his pen at her. "I think Piper seems like the type who works harder if you push her and you didn't push her which is why Lupa felt her movements were weak." He turned to Piper. "I want to see more from you next week, good job."

The ballroom erupted into cheering once more as Dakota directed them to the skybox. High on adrenaline, Piper ran all the way up. It was only until she was in front of Gwen that she remembered Lacey told her to wave at the audience. Oh well.

"So Lupa said your movements were weak," Gwen said casually. "The audience seemed to disagree. What did you guys think?"

"I don't know," Piper answered truthfully. "I actually kinda got lost in the dance, like I did it so many times so i wasn't really thinking about it." Her tone rose towards the end and Piper realised she just made it sound like a question, so she corrected herself. "I mean, like, it's just sort of my reaction to the music already so it felt like a reflex and I didn't really control it." Her voice sounded weird. She usually did during interviews. Her movie had only just come out for about two months and she still wasn't used to all the attention.

Gwen seemed satisfied with the answer and moved on. "But Jason, Chiron said you weren't working up to standard..."

Jason leaned forward over Piper's shoulder to bring his mouth to the mike. "Yeah well, you know it's only the first week, so we're still getting comfortable," he interposed, sounding perfectly normal. He looked at Piper, rubbing her shoulder encouragingly. "Once we get the scores and know where we stand, we can start expanding territory."

Gwen smiled and turned to the camera. Piper followed suit. "Alright! Let's see your scores!"

_May the judges please reveal their scores._

_Chiron. _The ageing man smiled and pulled out his paddle. "Nine!" Somebody whooped behind her.

_Lupa. _The woman's regal face was expressionless as she lifted her paddle. "Nine," she said calmly.

_Dionysus. _The last judge nearly jumped out of his seat as he yelled "Nine!", his arms waving dramatically.

"So that's 27 out of 30 for Piper and Jason, highest score of the night for our shortest contestant" Gwen said. "Looks like you're ready to kick some butt."

Piper was grinning. Jason had removed his arm from her shoulders and was now pumping his fists in the air. A few of the other pros and contestants were congratulating her. It took a while to notice the cue telling her that she was off camera.

"Alright! That's a wrap everybody!"

Piper got up and followed the other pros and contestants as they headed backstage. She had forgotten which studio to report to after the show and Jason was nowhere to be found.

Someone clapped her on the back, and Piper realised it was Annabeth.

"Nice cha-cha," the blond dancer said.

"Thanks. You weren't too bad with Percy," Piper added. Percy Jackson, swimming sensation, had gotten 22 for his contemporary.

Annabeth made a face. "Ugh. So not his dance. That guy is totally obtuse. He can't channel any emotion at all. Maybe you should give him acting lessons."

Piper laughed. "Actually, I didn't expect to go into acting myself. It just...happened."

"Me too," Annabeth explained. "My friend coerced me into auditioning for a production with her. I was already a fair dancer, so I got a good role, but I never considered going professional until the production went big and I got offers."

"So what's your friend doing now?" Piper probed.

"Oh, she joined a troupe. They're currently touring but I think they will guest perform in maybe week 6, 7?"

Piper wanted to ask more questions, but they reached to studio - studio 12 - and Annabeth had started grumbling about the dance selection again. "Please don't give us waltz, that guy can't be graceful for nuts."

"Not all of us can be smoking hot and beautiful at the same time, Annabeth," another pro quipped. He had tan skin, pointy ears and curly brown hair. He grinned mischieviously at Piper as he made to sit on the step behind her. "Beauty Queen."

"What?" Piper asked him. As is _what kind of nickname was that?_

He laughed. "Yeah, you're Silena's new favourite. Congrats." He ruffled her hair playfully, then added more seriously, "You should run, though. You're going to spend more time on make-up than dancing. You gotta go for hair therapy, skin grafting..."

"Let her off, Leo," a more familiar voice chided. Piper smiled gratefully as Jason took a seat beside Leo.

"Have any of you guys seen Jackson?" Annabeth cut in.

Leo craned his neck, scanning the studio. "Yeah, he's on the other side with Rey," he replied, pointing across the room. "Apparently they had the same nutritionist. Hylla something or the other."

Annabeth mumbled something like "Oh thank god he didn't wind up across the street" while Jason muttered "You know she's probably going to kill you if she hears you calling her that" to Leo.

"Alright! Nice performances everyone!"

The judges had entered the studio, a line of cameramen in their wake. Lupa and Dionysus were carrying two mirrorball replicas with a section of the top cut off.

Chiron stood in the center of the studio and addressed the crowd of pros and contestants. "So next week, as usual, the dances will be jive, quickstep and waltz," he said. "Those who did a foxtrot today will be doing jive."

"Hooray!" Leo cheered. Chiron shot him a look and Piper thought he rolled his eyes.

"It's my favourite dance," Leo mumbled matter-of-factly, shrugging as everyone stared at him.

"The eight of you who did cha-cha and contemporary will get either waltz or quickstep," Chiron continued. "So elect one person per couple to come up and pick your dances. You will be picking two cards. The first will be which couple gets the dance and the second card will be the dance itself."

Jason leaned forward. "You want to do it or do you want me to do it?"

Piper thought about it. "I'll do it," she decided. "Since you already picked this week's"

"Fair enough."

Annabeth volunteered to pick first. He pulled a red card from Lupa's mirrorball and a blue card from Dionysus'.

She opened the red card first. "Travis and Katie get..." she paused as she opened the second card," ...the quickstep." She held out both cards for everyone to see before passing them to a petite girl with light gold-brown hair. Piper tried to recall her profession, but couldn't.

The tall, lanky guy next to Katie stood up. Piper recognise him Travis Stoll. It was his third year on the show. Travis dramatically stirred his hands around in the boxes until Chiron finally (and exasperatedly) said, "Travis, if you may."

Travis pulled two cards out simultaneously. "Piper and Jason get waltz." He announced. He passed the cards to Jason as Piper got up.

Dionysus was closer to her so she picked a blue card first. WALTZ, it read.

Piper looked up. "Waltz goes to..." she pulled out the red card. PERCY JACKSON, it read. Then a line below, ANNABETH CHASE. She held the cards out. "Annabeth and Percy."

A swear formed on Annabeth's mouth as Piper handed her the cards. Chiron was calling for a next volunteer, since Annabeth had already picked.

"Annabeth's gonna kill you," Leo whispered.

"Shut up Leo," Annabeth grumbled. The blond pro was glaring daggers to her partner across the room while shaking her head.

They were down to three more couples left to pick when Silena poked her head through the door. "Sorry Chiron," she said. "Can I have Clarisse and co please? I need to touch up their make-up before the confessionals taping."

"It's fine, Silena!" one of the pros yelled exasperatedly. But the make-up head was already dragging the first couple out of the room.

_Piper and Jason's confessional video_

Piper whooped at the camera. "Highest score of the night!"

_*cut*_

Jason smiled. "So we're tied at the top of the leaderboard tonight," he said matter-of-factly. Always the pragmatist. "That's a good start. Now we know how to reach the top and we know our competition, so we've got to come up with some strategy to stay there."

Piper looked at him. "You sound like we're going into battle," she noted.

Jason shifted on the bench so that his entire body was facing her. "Dancing is a loooong hard battle," he said with a serious face, "and you've just been enlisted into the legion."

_*cut*_

"Of course we performed well tonight," Jason said, wrapping one arm around Piper to shake her gently. "Piper's a very hard worker and a fast learner so far, and - " 

"So far?" Piper interrupted, putting on a scadalized tone. "The amount of faith you have is utterly shocking."

Jason started laughing and made to apologise, but Piper went on. She turned to the camera. "Well, Jason here has been a nice teacher _so far, _but he'll probably turn into a neurotic psychopath by next week..."

Then she started laughing too.


	4. week 2 rehearsals

"So...waltz," Piper said, trying to ignore the cameras in her periphery.

"Waltz," Jason confirmed, seemingly unfazed.

Piper tried to keep her eyes fixed on her partner. "Is it really that bad?" she asked. "Annabeth seemed pretty exasperated."

"Annabeth never liked the waltz to begin with," Jason explained.

Piper raised her eyebrows. "So what about you?"

"I'm fine with it," Jason said, scratching the back of his head. "I don't do waltz a lot," he admitted.

"It's fine," Piper reassured him. "I've never done a waltz in my life."

Footwork for the waltz was harder than it looked. Jason made it seem easy enough when he demonstrated it on his own. But when they were in hold, Piper just kept tripping over either her own feet, or Jason's. She called out in alarm as she lost her footing for the umpteenth time.

"Try not to roll your ankles in," Jason advised as she stumbled out of hold. "It helps you balance better in heels."

Piper sighed as she tried to walk (keyword: _tried_) back to Jason. She felt like she was walking on stilts, where she could only balance on the balls of her feet. Her ankles were sore form the unfamiliar positioning of the feet and she didn't know if anyone cared or noticed, but there was a reason why she had worn flats to her premiere _and _the cast announcement.

She thought about all the tips Jason had given. Don't be afraid to put some weight on your heels. You need to spread your weight across the foot. Feel your toes spreading out, don't flex or curl them. Relax the arch. Don't roll your ankles.

_Just under a week to nail all of this down_, she thought.

Jason had pro rehearsals in the afternoon, so Piper spent the afternoon hanging out with Rachel Dare. Piper remembered Rachel being a pro herself up to a few seasons back, when she retired to the publicity comm and joined Afterbuzz.

Rachel was cool to hang out with, her cheery personality as bright as her fiery hair. The only problem was that after finding out about Piper's problem with heels, she insisted that Piper wear them out for lunch. As a result, anyone passing by the cafe on Strandler's Street, two blocks down from the studio, would have seen a 17-year-old singer-actress stumbling around. What a beautiful day for paparazzi.

"Don't worry, it's only week 2, you've got plenty of time to get used to it," Rachel ratted away in between mouthfuls of her pie. "It's okay if it doesn't come to you immediately, you'll slowly build up from the basics..."

"Sorry what?" Piper said suddenly, pulled from her drifting train of thought.

Rachel smiled. "I was saying, walking in heels, let alone dancing, can be tricky, I get that - the reason I wear boots, see. But yeah, it's kind of like dancing you know, you can't just jump right in - you'll drown. You need to learn how to swim, get your foundations right first."

_You can't just jump right in, you'll drown._

"Actually, it's quite analogous to you guys right now," Rachel said, getting sidetracked (again). "The show's becoming more competitive every season, all the pros pulling out the fancy footwork on the first get-go. I've been there. It's hard on you..."

_Pulling out the fancy footwork on the first get-go._

"...Jason..."

Piper was once again rudely jarred from her own thoughts. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that again?" she asked, feeling slightly inconsiderate.

But Rachel just went on as if nothing happened. "It's very much Jason's style to aim high hit low. Or pretty much aim high and try to hit high. From what I've noticed, he usually sets a really high standard in his choreography and only simplifies it if he needs to." She gave Piper a look - was that sympathy? "I don't think he'll be lowering the choreography level for you anytime soon though. If anything, he'll be pushing it up, seeing as you had a good start," she explained.

"You've just got to try, Piper," Jason insisted as they headed for costume consultation. His logic was that this week's dance was on the same difficulty level as the previous week's, so heels were the next step. And that guy was really committed to keeping the standard up.

Piper rebutted that the waltz was a whole new technique altogether. "You said so yourself, latin and ballroom require different styles, technique, posture, hold - those technical jargon things," she half-yelled, exasperated. "Even if you don't want to change the dance, you could wait until I'm actually familiar with the movement before breaking in the heels."

Jason sighed and pushed his hair back. "I don't know, Pipes," he replied. "I'm not sure how long we can pull off this not-wearing-proper-shoes thing. People have tried and it's gone really badly before."

_The judges haven't pointed it out yet_, Piper wanted to say. But the blond pro beat her to it. "They don't always point these kind of things out when they mark you down for it. Especially Lupa."

Piper stopped as they approached the door marked "C Store" (costume storage for short). She put on her best begging face. "It's only week 2."

She watched her partner's eyebrows knit together as he weighed the pros and cons. _It can't hurt _that _much, can it? _Piper thought._  
_

"Alright, I'll see if they can find you any good alternatives."

Piper's resisted the urge to do a fist pump as Jason backed into the costume room.


	5. Week 2 show

**Note**: If you're interested, from now on, for each chapter that includes the live show, I will post a dance chart (the kind you find on the seasonal dwts wikipedia pages) at the end of my tumblr post. You can check there to see all the couple's dances (cos I don't mention all of them in each chapter) and their scores (although I don't give all of them scores all the time) and who got eliminated. My blog is thewriteink on tumblr.

* * *

Piper grinned from the dance floor as she watched Percy's figure jump up and down in the sky box. He and Annabeth had just gotten two 9s for a surprisingly good waltz that the blonde pro had been complaining about the whole week. Piper didn't see the problem. It was a really sweet dance to _I Have Nothing_.

Percy didn't seem like a Whitney Houston kind of guy, then again he gave everyone second-hand embarrassment with his jokes during opening number rehearsal, so Piper guessed that he had a soft side too. (Piper liked to think it was for a certain professional dancer.)

It also made Piper nervous. Back to back with two good numbers (Will Solace opened the show with a clean quickstep earlier) and third to perform - that was quite a bit of pressure.

She didn't even notice her rehearsal video play, so when she felt Jason pushing her to her mark, she was caught off guard.

Then she heard the band playing the soft intro tune and her mind cleared. Time to dance.

Piper listened out for bass - it was her best indicator of the time signature. _You Raise Me Up _was a nice song, she just wasn't used to hearing it in triple time.

" - and step two three, turn turn turn, good..." Jason said softly, guiding her footsteps as they did their chaine turns across the floor. Piper felt her ankle leaning inwards as she continued into a pivot and shifted it, silently thanking the wardrobe for giving her shoes a thin platform below the heel. If not she would have fallen over.

A relieved sigh escaped as Piper went on to the next movement. SHe put her hands around Jason's neck and leaned onto him, letting him pull her across the floor (that was in case she _did _fall over, so they could cover it up).

The music ended and the lights blacked out on them. Piper turned towards the judges' table. Or at least, where she _thought _the table was, because when the lights came on she was looking straight into the audience. Disoriented, she spun on her heel to see an equally confused Jason before she spotted Dakota beckoning in her left periphery.

"Piper and Jason!" Dakota grinned at her. "Someone looked a bit lost there," he said, though it sounded more like a question. He raised an eyebrow and Piper realised she was supposed to respond.

"Oh, we just, uh, didn't really think it would be that dark, so... couldn't tell where I was turning," she said.

"Well let's hope the judges won't be too misleading. Dionysus, let's start with you."

Dionysus moved some papers around. _They take notes? _Piper thought, at the same time the judge started speaking. "When I look at waltzes I like them smooth and fluid, and this was flowing water," he said, gesturing with his hands. "The transitions were all there, very good choreography - " he nodded at Jason, then turned back to Piper, "just look out for your arms, sometimes they look out of control. And you need to extend them fully."

Chiron came next. Piper had decided that she liked Chiron. Despite his usual stern exterior he tried to be optimistic and was always constructive. "For most of the part I agree with Dionysus, the movements were well connected - something I think is very important. Another thing is that this music was quite expressive, so I think you can work on showing some emotion on top of just being graceful." He gave her an encouraging smile.

Dakota chimed in. "Well, she's an actor, so she should be able to do it. Lupa, on to you."

"It was a short and sweet dance, very beautiful, but you need to keep your posture in check, because you tend to arch your upper back and when you turn it looks like you're leaning backwards, so, work on that." Typical Lupa, strict and to the point.

Jason leaned over as they headed up the stairs. "Don't worry about that," he whispered in her ear. "I got us contemporary for next week, so we'll have time for it later."

Piper remembered the producers asking for their week 3 ideas so they could assign dance styles for the Most Memorable Year theme. "Why contemporary?" she asked.

"I thought asking for jazz might be a bit obvious," her partner answered. "Contemp was my backup plan."

They reached the skybox and Gwen started interrogating Jason about choreographing transitions. Piper had done some research and found out that Gwen was a runner-up from season 10.

The co-host turned to her. "Alright, so Chiron said you needed to show more emotion," she stated. "How do you plan to work on that? Especially because next week is Most Memorable theme, very emotional week on the show."

"I haven't really thought about what I want to do yet," Piper replied honestly, stealing a glance at Jason. "But I just heard that I'm not doing a traditional style next week?" she added tentatively, wondering if she could reveal her style yet, "so that might be put on hold. It depends on what Jason has in mind."

"I see, now let's get your scores."

_May the judges please reveal their scores._

_Chiron. _Chiron smiled and pulled out his paddle. "Eight!"

_Lupa. _"Eight." the regal woman announced.

_Dionysus. _"EIght!"

"24 out of 30 for Piper and Jason," Gwen confirmed. "Quite on par with the scores tonight. How do you guys feel?"

"I think it's good," Jason said, rubbing her shoulders as he looked at Gwen. "We'll be aiming to get back that 27, but second week, 24, that's reasonable."

Studio 12 was already crowded when Piper walked in. She had just come from Silena's long lecture about the proper technique for brushing hair. Apparently, Piper wasn't aware that you had to even hold the brush in a certain way.

Since there was no need to draw lots for dances this week, the studio was just an air-conditioned waiting room while confessions were filming. Scanning the room, Piper spotted the blond hair in a corner and headed over, only to find Annabeth, not Jason. The pro was amongst the small group watching Leo hop around as he explained his quickstep idea to Reyna and a few others.

The curly-haired dancer noticed her as she came over. "Hey Beauty Queen."

Piper scowled. "If you keep calling me 'Beauty Queen' I might be forced to stab you with one of her heels."

Leo remained unfazed. He grinned and continued, "No need to be so drastic. At least I know enough to assure you that Silena's not in love with you."

Next to Annabeth, Percy laughed to himself. "Man, you should hear her talking about Beckendorf," he explained when the small group stared at him. Annabeth kicked him.

"Wait - Beckendorf's lady is Silena?" Leo asked, eyes wide. "When did this happen?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "They started a few months before he left the show and you came in."

But Leo was still shocked. He kept shaking his head and mumbling things like "My ex-coach is dating the wardrobe mistress?"

Piper turned her attention to Percy and Reyna, who were now busy comparing rehearsals to their various training regimens. Piper listened to Reyna talking about the jive. She had enjoyed the night's jive routines - bright and energetic.

Her eyes met Reyna's dark ones, beckoning her to come over. Piper obliged. The gymnast gave her a friendly smile. "So, how's Jason?" she asked. "I was told he can be quite scary."

Piper must have made a face, because Reyna jerked her chin towards her partner and rolled here eyes. _Leo_.

They swapped rehearsal tales until Reyna got called for her confessional.

Week 2 Confessionals

Piper and Jason

"So..." Piper began, "this week, we worked on my footwork." She sounded tentative. What do you call _how to walk in heels 101_?

Jason raised an eyebrow. "You could say that."

"Okay, fine! I had a problem balancing in heels! I've never worn them before. It's always been sneakers."

"At least you made me feel grateful that the men don't have to wear heels," her partner commented with a laugh.

Piper shoved him. Then she laughed.

_cut_

"Anyway," she said as the clip continued, "I don't have to wear heels next week!"

"So we're definitely going to chase those nines back down," Jason added. He looked at her in the eye. "You ready?"

"Ready."


	6. Week 3: Most Memorable Year rehearsals

**It's Most Memorable Year Week! Bring on the Waterworks!**

* * *

_My most memorable year, would have been last year, twenty-fourteen, to around two years ago. It's not just because I got my acting role, it's actually the whole series of events leading up to that._

_I started off three years ago signing up to learn lighting design for stage with my school's drama club, when one of the teachers caught me singing on the job and encouraged me to try for one of their upcoming plays instead, which was some old-school musical theme. I was hesitant at first, but she was kind of insistent so I gave it a go, got the part, and turned out I liked i, so I stayed on as an actor. Just before winter break twenty-thirteen, the same teacher who first got me to try out told me I was invited to audition for a local theatre production,_ Lost Royalty._ It was my first time in a large-scale production, full-blown public performance kinda thing, and I absolutely enjoyed it. It was so much fun and I got to meet lots of new people and learn a lot of things._

_I was just about to sign up for another production with the same company when the people from _Evolution _contacted me. Apparently a casting agent liked my performance in _Lost Royalty _and thought I was a good contender for the character of Katherine. My friends all encouraged me to go for it, and it _is _one of my favourite book series, so I just tried out, even though I thought I wouldn't get it because everyone else had more professional experience, but I did. They even dug up my first school performance - the musical one - and came up with the idea of letting me record a song for the soundtrack._

_Shooting for _Evolution _was one of the best times of my life, but also one of the most pressurising. I had to learn a lot on the job, because it was my first time doing camera acting, but the cast was very supportive and kept guiding me all the way. My family also moved so it would be easier for me, and I'm really grateful for that. Filming was great, but they wanted to make it a surprise, so no one outside the cast, crew and our closest families knew about it and we all had to swear not to tell anyone. It was really hard keeping it from my friends and old schoolmates._

_SInce the trailer came out, everything has been crazy. I'm being called up left right and center for all sorts of things like interviews - I've never experienced this sort of thing it's kinda weird. But I really value the experience that _Evolution _gave me and I really look forward to making more movies._

_This week's dance is dedicated to everyone who has been with me throughout my entire acting journey so far. It's about a major event that happens in book three. It shouldn't be _that _big a spoiler if you've already read the book, so I hope you enjoy our interpretation of it. Rick, I hope you approve._

* * *

_Friday afternoon_

Her muscles ached during the short walk from the fridge to the table just outside the kitchen.

Contemporary came to her more easily than waltz, but it was definitely more tiring. Not to mention she and Jason had picked the most intense piece of music on the soundtrack. That required her to perform with power.

The competition was also picking up pace, so Piper was spending more time in the studio, and also with the other pros and contestants, especially Leo and Reyna. She got along with Leo right off the bat, despite his incessant name calling (really, when would the beauty queen thing wear off?). Plus he made really good sandwiches.

Reyna was more reserved at first, but eventually opened up as well. Piper attributed her usual expressionless front to her gymnastics training. Which was not necessarily a curse - Reyna was easily keeping up with Leo for two fast dances two weeks in a row: jive then quickstep.

Piper also found herself talking to Annabeth Chase and Hazel Levesque. Hazel was partnered with Frank Zhang. She remembered the NHL player lined up in front of her during cast announcement, but hadn't seem much of him since, except during opening rehearsals.

"I was thinking," Annabeth started.

"You do that a lot," her partner interjected. "If you weren't dancing you'd probably be winning some Nobel Prize."

Annabeth ignored him. "As I was saying, I just noticed that we have a lot of athletes this season. Fifty percent, to be exact." She started counting cast members off her fingers. "There's you obviously," she said, motioning to Percy. "Grover, Frank, Khione, Reyna and Leslie."

"Khione's scary," Jason quipped. "Bobby says he's personally intimidated by her persistent need to train 24/7, and I've spoken to her once - she comes of as very cold."

Percy sipped his soda. "Well she is an _ice _dancer."

"Hmmm…" Leo exaggerated scratching his chin in deep thought. "Maybe they should have paired her with me instead. Cos I got the fire!"

His partner sighed. "And I'm sure Bobby would be a completely normal coach," she said monotoned.

They started going back and forth, Leo being self-proclaiming while Reyna took digs at him. The others just sat back, munching on their food and enjoying the banter (which happened too many times). Piper caught Annabeth and Jason signalling at each other across the table. Maybe they were betting on how long for Reyna to give up on her attempts to reign Leo in.

Reyna started ignoring him after 5 minutes. Surprisingly, it took Leo less than the next 5 to realise he was going nowhere and channel his infinite energy into finishing his lunch (while drumming random songs on the table).

* * *

Piper pictured herself leaping gracefully and pushed off the floor. She felt Jason catch her around the waist just as she passed the peak of her jump. The studio gently blurred as he spun her around.

She stumbled slightly upon landing, the inertia of the spin throwing her off balance. Her right leg came forward and hit the ground roughly before she fell forward.

"You can't hesitate," Jason was saying behind her. "When you think too much about the jump you paused slightly before jumping and it spoils your momentum. I can only lift you so much if you don't let yourself jump."

Piper turned around, panting and nodding.

She felt Jason's hand rub her back encouragingly. "Try that again?"

She crossed the floor wordlessly before looking up. Her eyes focused on the spot in front of her partner as he starting counting.

"…and one and jump - "

Piper smiled internally as she felt herself gain height. For her short airtime she felt light, almost as if Jason wasn't roughly lifting her off the ground.

Her landing was also softer, though still without grace, and without enough control to move on into the next step yet, but it was in improvement no less.

She turned to face Jason, who was looking rather pleased. "That was good," he said brightly. "Now I just need you to add some forward motion to your jump so moving into the spin will be easier." He drew a large parabola in the air to show his point.

They practiced the spin-lift a few more times before Jason taught her the next set of movements. _Doesn't look too complicated_, Piper thought as she tried to out the first time._  
_

She balanced herself on her left foot as if she were just coming out of the lift, then she swung her right leg around into the all to familiar chaîné turns. On the third turn, she stepped with her left, did a half turn and extended her right leg while leaning back, imagining her leg unfolding towards the opposite end of the ceiling. Jason's hand brushed lightly against her back, probably placed there in case she leaned too far backwards. But she held her core and brought herself back up just fine.

She spun round, looking at Jason for approval. He nodded. "Very nice. Let's do that again, but this time, when you're leaning back, I want you to lean back more."

Piper frowned. "Lean back more?"

"Put all your weight on me," Jason explained. "I want you to lean all the way back. Your head's gotta brush the floor. So you can't hold your back. Just relax and lean on my arm, okay?"

They went through the motions again, stopping at the extension to correct the position.

"More, Pipes, more," Jason was saying. "You've got to put all your weight on me so you can bend lower."

Piper shifted her weight, then stopped herself as she felt herself plummet. She arched her back and using her core strength (and Jason's support), pulled herself back up.

Jason held her shoulders to steady her. Then he turned Piper towards him and looked at her.

"Piper," he said, and Piper thought his bright blue eyes were going to burn through her body. "You've got to trust me," he said softly.

It took Piper a lot of effort to look away. Jason's blue orbs were like tractor beams, holding her in place. Instead, she tried to focus on the studio wall behind him.

"Do you trust me?" Jason asked, and Piper's vision immediately snapped back to him. She drew a breath, nodding as she exhaled.

Jason smiled and dropped his arms. Piper suddenly felt that her shoulders were bare. She could sense the camera zooming in on her face as she watched him take his position, rolling his head back as he went. She shook her head to avoid watching his neck muscles and hurried over to take her position.


	7. Week 3: Most Memorable Year Night!

**Happy belated Valentine's Day! Or Single Awareness Day!**

Anyway, I'm so sorry for not updating this story. I took a break from writing over the holidays to pursue other interests and have had a hectic first few weeks of school since I'm starting upper high. I CAN'T BELIEVE DWTS SEASON 20 IS BARELY A MONTH AWAY. For my fellow dwts viewers, what do you guys think about the pro line-up? I'm kinda disappointed that Keo's not there, and I'm surprised Mark didn't leave.

Once again, I'm sorry this took so long. And if you liked it, I'm thewriteink on tumblr, and the tag for this story is either 'lucky star the fic' or 'dancewts au'

* * *

_Monday - it's Most Memorable Year night, on Dancing with the Stars!_

* * *

Piper's ears buzzed as she ran up the steps to the awaiting skybox. Many hands clapped her on her shoulders, which were almost entirely exposed by the wide boat neck of her soft dress, but finally it was Jason's that settled down on either side and steered her towards Gwen. Piper wondered if the light static came from her bare feet brushing the carpeted floor.

Gwen's hand reached over and landed in between Jason's, just below the back of Piper's neck, guiding her to face the camera. "Wow! Piper..." the host started, "you really made me hold my breath. That was really intense...and scary too. How hard did you train?"

Piper was vaguely aware of close her partner was, almost pressed together back-to-front, as she recounted mastering the lifts, jumps and hard techniques. Every time Jason had to spot or support her, it was like doing those crazy trust fall exercises over and over. "It was crazy," she answered. "Some of those moves looked really scary at first, but I think my previous dance experience helped me gain control."

Gwen nodded. "I think so too. I saw your camera blocking on Friday. Those were some epic jumps."

Piper's shoulders were shaken lightly as Jason laughed at Gwen's dig. One of the crewmen raised a grey paddle - a sign that they were cutting to footage. Squinting at the small live stream screen above the camera, Piper could make out the two figures leaping gracefully across the floor. Until the taller figure landed not-so-gracefully off balance and flailed around before stumbling in the next move. One of Jason Grace's weaknesses in dance was, as it turned out, jumps. In fact, he admitted that he'd only ever used two major jumps: the standard _jeté_ and the russian jump.

The grey card went down. Back to shooting. Gwen made some joke about Jason's last name, before calling for their scores.

_May the judges please reveal their scores._

_Chiron 9_

_Lupa 9_

_Dionysus_

And Dionysus, who already gesticulated wildly on a regular basis, threw up his paddle with so much force that he ended up throwing it into the air. "10!" he yelled.

Screaming and cheering erupted across the ballroom. Piper's mouth had fallen open. Her first reaction was to grab the nearest thing - Gwen's arm, then grab Jason's as his wrapped around her shoulders in a tight hug. At one point her feet left the floor and she was spun round. She had to grab Gwen again for support when she was set back down. The co-host gave her a one-armed hug, before handing over to Dakota.

Piper was quickly pulled into a sea of arms as soon as the cameras cut. She finally met Jason's eyes over Leo's head and he nodded - _great job_.

* * *

"Alright, everyone, you've seen the dances for tonight," Dakota announced. On the large screen across the dance floor, a leaderboard flashed on and Piper smiled at the position of her name.

"At the top, we have Piper and Jason with 28, closely followed by Reyna and Leo and Khione and Bobby with 27."

"At the bottom, Leslie and Malcolm, with 21 for their samba," Gwen continued. "But remember, your viewer votes will still be counted for next week's elimination."

A crew member pushed two large mirrorballs onto the dance floor. The top of each mirrorball had been sliced opened, and from her vantage point on the stairs, Piper could see smaller mirrorballs inside.

Lights flashed as the leaderboard was replaced with a list of dance styles. Some were recognisable; others weren't so familiar. _Broadway, West Coast Swing, Argentine Tango, Jitterbug, Merengue, Mambo, Lindy Hop, Rumba, Charleston, Bolero_. Glancing around, Piper noticed even some of the pros had their mouths open.

"As you can see, some of these dance styles have been performed before. Others are completely new to the ballroom," Gwen said, voicing their thoughts.

As Dakota explained how the drawing system was going to work, Jason leaned over. "I think if we get drawn to choose for someone before someone chooses for us, we give away the bolero," he said, his breath tickling her ear. "The other styles I've heard of but I don't know what a bolero is."

Dakota and Gwen were each pulling a small mirrorball out of each large mirrorball draw bowl. Dakota opened his first: "Lou and Connor, you will be picking for..."

Gwen opened her mirrorball: "Will and Jessica."

The ten-second countdown started amidst much whispering from Lou Ellen and Connor Stoll. "And it looks like they've made a decision?" Dakota commented as the couple nodded at each other.

"Bolero," Lou said, loud and clear.

Piper turned to look at Jason. _What next? _He was staring ahead at the list of dances, as if calculating their next choice. Piper could imagine him ranking each style in his head.

"Broadway," he decided. "Sounds more like a large stage production than a two-person dance. But it depends on who we're picking for."

They were interrupted by _oooohs _as Grover Underwood and his partner Juniper Walker got swing from Khione.

Dakota reached for the next mini mirrorball. "Next up, Leslie and Malcolm will pick for..."

"Leo and Reyna."

The countdown had barely started when Leslie shouted "Charleston!"

Jason's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline as he watched Leo disentangle from Reyna to punch the air. "She must really not want the charleston to not mind giving it to Leo, of all people," he muttered. Piper watched as a rather embarrassed Reyna tried to calm down her whooping partner.

"Suits him huh?" Piper replied, recalling the Leo's last charleston from a few seasons back. It had been -

"Crazy," Jason filled in for her. "I was hoping Reyna would do a Jitterbug, though. Lots of room for tricks. That would have been interesting. Then we'd had a hard time trying to reclaim our top spot."

"Piper and Jason!" Gwen called out, catching them off guard. Piper scanned the other couples and identified Mateo Garcia and Shanice Wong whispering quickly.

"Argen - " the Mexican started to say, but then Shanice tip-toed to whisper something into his ear.

"Rumba," he finalised. "Let's go with Rumba."

Jason groaned behind her. "I don't know if that's good or that's bad," he said. Piper frowned. Rumba was a usual on the show - that was good right?

Then she remembered the nickname for Rumba. _More bad than good_.

A few more couples, then their names were called again, this time by Dakota, with Gwen following with Frank and Hazel's.

Piper glanced back to the screen. Only Broadway, Merengue and the Argentine Tango were left. "Still going with Broadway?" she asked Jason, keeping her eyes on the screen. He gave her a thumbs up.

* * *

"So, you guys were handed the Rumba for next week. How do you guys feel about that?" the reporter (his lanyard read 'Mitchell') asked.

Piper grinned sheepishly. She could already see next week's rehearsal package in her head. Scared to show emotion, not used to this, still young, the usual U-20 rumba problems.

Jason, hands reassuringly on her shoulders as always, leaned over her shoulder to answer. "It's not our most anticipated dance, though in relation to the other dances up there, it's not the worst, so we should work with what we've got," he said matter-of-factly.

Mitchell nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yes, and I think a lot of people are probably talking about whether you'll be able to show the emotion needed for a rumba, you know, dance of love and all that," he said, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. "But I guess from your contemporary earlier you're sort of warmed-up?"

Thank the gods she got Mitchell. His constant nervous energy made the question slightly less awkward. "Well," Piper started, "You could say that, although contemporary and rumba are both expressive, I find that rumba has a very different feeling. But also I had to show that kind of emotion for Evolution, so you could say I'm warmed up that way."

Mitchell's eyes lit up at the mention of the movie, rather reminiscent of a fanboy. "So you're strategy is to imagine you are both characters. That should work for you," he rambled. "And also you could use this to prepare for the next movie? Because no spoilers, but Katherine and Logan..." he waved his hands around spastically. Piper took it in her stride and laughed. "Yeah, if you read the books you'd know," she said, faking a few coughs. "I should drag Ryan into rehearsals so he can practice too," she joked.

"Wait - your friends are coming?" Jason interrupted. Piper would have laughed at his shocked expression if he didn't look so caught in the headlights.

"No! No, I was only joking," she reassured him. "They won't stop by so soon anyway. But they could get tips from you when they do."

Jason turned slightly pink. "Um, thanks," he mumbled, his hands dropping to hold the sides of her arms."

Mitchell chuckled. "I wouldn't mind getting some tips too," he said, winking at the blond dancer. "Good luck for next week, you two. Can we 'buzz you later' for the camera? One, two, three..."

"Buzz you later!"


End file.
